Egyptian Exchange Program for Young Adults

I don't qualify for this since I have been to Egypt (luckily before all this crazy-ness), but I recommend a visit to that country. It is probably very different than you'd expect.

It's a country of world-renown history, museums, and archaeology. But, along with this, I found very friendly people in each of the cities we visited - Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan. Along with friendly people, however, there were also some who definitely tried and did take advantage of tourists but it is, after all, a third world country and the economy has never been very strong and the politics have usually been very corrupt.

We experienced households that varied from one or two rooms (where beds were also used as couches) to people who had huge mansions. People, for the most part, were extremely nice and hospitable and curious about us (sometimes we said we were Americans and sometimes we said we were Canadians) no matter the socio-economic situation.

But, as with any similar country, you just have to be smart and go in with your eyes open.

(Egyptian flag)

Here's the fellows info:

Build greater transnational understanding of the challenges shared by US and Egyptian societies through art, traditions, politics, economy, religion and more through the Gabr Fellows Program. 2014 participants, both American and Egyptian, traveled and lived together during a four week program, spending two weeks in Egypt and two weeks in the United States. The program offers the opportunity to participate in Action Projects, which help to build bridges and enhance the understanding of each other's diverse cultures, societies and aspirations. Ultimately, Gabr Fellows are creating the legacy of the Gabr Fellowship and developing an international cohort dedicated to pursuing cooperative, collective solutions to their region's most pressing issues.

Application information can be found here. Interested applicants should be between 24 and 35 years of age. American, English and Irish applicants should not have traveled previously to Egypt. Egyptian and Bahraini applicants should not have traveled to the United States, Great Britain or Ireland.